IWRG 8/20/09

Check it out

http://www.youtube.com/user/WarriorsX2000

TKG:It’s the annual IWRG Festival De Mascaras, where veteran wrestlers come out of retirement and everyone re-dons there lost masks for one night only. Show honored El Matematico and there was a brief interview and award ceremony with him. No real great matches, but fun show with a bunch of neat performances. I’m not sure if this show had lots of clips in it or just that’s the way WarriorsX removed the commercials but there are a bunch of distracting jump cuts throughout show.

Cerebro Negro/Dr. Cerebro v. Orito/Panterita

TKG: Orito would be Mickey Segura and Panterita would be Freelance. I have been pimping the greatness of Dr. Cerebro this year for a while but jeeze he looked awful here. I don’t know if it was the mask or if he was hung over, or concussed but he looked completely awkward, tentative and struggled to get into place for spots. Cerebro Negro had a bunch of nice stuff with both tecnicos and him and Freelance match up especially well. The Freelance eat of the powerbomb in first fall felt tribute to Misawa nasty and it looked like Cerebro Negro tried to one up it in his attempt to eat a rana as a dangerous powerbomb in the second fall. Freelance still rules. I hope he start's showing up again regularly.

PAS: I really liked your opening Orito v. Dr. Cerebro mat section, and his tope looked nice, but otherwise he was pretty off. I was hoping this would be the blowaway Freelance performance that I have been waiting for all year, he looked good, but this was a fun match not a great one. I did dig the fuck out of the double Orihara moonsaults, although IWRG needs to get a zoom out on their cameras, as they only ever focus on one dive at a time.

El Signo/Negro Navarro v. Black Terry/Shu el Guerrero

TKG: This is Temerarios v Missioneros. Signo looked a bunch of steps off but if there is anyone who can walk a guy through a good looking brawl it’s Black Terry. I will also never tire of Shu’s signature mat stuff. They need to find two young guys to put in trio with Shu, cause I enjoy him way too much to only get to see him once a year. The finish to the third fall had both Signo and Shu eliminated and Terry and Navarro facing off and fuck these are guys I enjoy facing off.

PAS: I think I enjoyed this more then Tom, we are clearly spoiled in 2009, as this kind of thing showing up two years ago would have blown us away. The Navarro v. Terry sections were so amazing, the punch exchanges felt like Lawler v. Mantel awesome, and I loved how the matwork moved from competitive one upsmanship, to really violent cranking. At one point Navarro has this neck strecth submission while fishooking a bloody Black Terry, if I ever get a tattoo, it will be that. Shu and Signo were fine, Signo has a cool looking mask, and I liked the punches on Terry's cut a bunch, but damn Terry and Navarro need to grow their hair back so I can see the epic hair match already.

El Pantera/Ricky Cruz/Scorpio Jr. v. Kraneo/Rambo/Veneno

TKG: Rambo is a guy who always looked far older with mask on then without. In his youth he was a big bumping rudo but now a days does more midlevel veteran matwork and brawling. Since loosing the mask El Pantera has looked pretty shitty, just lost in the ring, like he doesn’t know how to bump or run the ropes. But here both guys decided that they were going to fly around. In his late 50s, Rambo decides to bring back all his goofy big bumps, he’s older and slower on the execution so you can actually see the exact mechanics of each bump but still it’s nutty. Meanwhile El Pantera hits all of his big highspots beautifully. Weird. Kraneo is el Alebrije’s former gimmick and he continues to be a guy I oddly enjoy in IWRG. There may have been no point in Sorpio Jr.s career where I would have felt comfortable saying “That guy is going to make it to 45. But at 43 post death scare, he looks off the gas and like a guy who will make it to 45. Veneno is a charismatic guy who I’ve never cared for and Ricky Cruz really is a budget Apollo but for some reason those two guys have their stuff together opposite each other. I mean these are guys who aren’t much opposite anyone else but really have a touring match down with each other, where at times it has a Briscoe v Briscoe feel of two guys who’ve been working this shit out in their backyard for years. Cruz and Scorpio have the tag title and if they haven’t dropped the Super X invasion angle, I got the impression that I might actively enjoy a Veneno/Alebrije Super X v Scorpio/Cruz IWRG tag feud. Mediocre match but something I enjoyed.

PAS: Yeah Pantera had the real Super Astro 2008 time machine feel to him, as all of sudden in the 2nd fall he is flying around like 1993. If the coach didn't turn into a pumpkin I would love to see him thrown in against the Oficales, Terrible Cerebros or Jr. Piratas. I thought there were some nice exchanges between him and Kraneo, and the Kraneo mask is way better then the Alebrije mask.

Kahoz/Máscara Año 2000/Sangre Chicana v. El Fantasma/Mano Negra/Villano III

TKG: Mano Negra decides “I lost this mask fair and square I ain’t putting it back on” and you got to respect that, especially given that his is the coolest mask on the show. I think they advertised Fishman for this match. I don’t know which if these guys would have been the replacement. Really Fishman could have replaced almost anyone other than Sangre Chicana and it wouldn’t have made a difference. This is Sangre Chicana’s match and everyone else is just along for the ride. Chicana is a guy who had a pretty pushed role in a major fed within last two years. But he really took a backseat to El Brazo and the Consagrados. Here he’s fully in the driver seat as “The King of Scandal” brining this real feel of anarchy to the brawling on the floor. Attacking his opponent with a glass bottle before the match starts, challenging old ladies in the crowd, beating folks, recklessly tossing chairs, looking for his bottle, etc.. It’s not just that the brawling is awesome but also he just carries himself in this real charismatic way where even if he isn’t doing anything he comes across nuts. Villano III is the victim of most of Chicana’s violence. While I knew he could still bleed sell and struggle from below, I was pleasantly surprised by how great III still is in role of fired up baby face fighting back in second fall. While Chichana was brawling on the floor, Mascara Ano Dos Mil worked role of in ring rudo doing actual wrestling exchanges tieing guys up waiting for double teams, nothing really is neat as the wrestling exchanges between El Audaz and Cien last year but that was a different type of match. Fantasma fell into chairs and had a nice high crossbody, Kahoz didn’t do much of anything and Mano Negra was underwhelming but none of that mattered. This was the Sangre Chicana show.

PAS: Yeah christ was Chicana awesome, I probably haven't seem him wrestling in about six years but he was right up there with Terry and Navarro on this show, and man would I love to see him in that mix with those guys. He was throwing this incredible looking sweeping right hook, which was both expressive and powerful looking. Tom was right about the action, Chicana was always moving, his workrate was nuts. Villano III did a great job of bleeding disgustingly, and when he fired back it looked great, I know these guys are working singles matches against each other and lets prey those show up. Because, fuck man.